The following day, Lucy spends a "long morning" in the Basilica of Santa Croce, accompanied by Miss Eleanor Lavish, a novelist, who promises to lead her on an adventure. Lavish confiscates Lucy's Baedeker guidebook, proclaiming she will show Lucy the "true Italy". On the way to Santa Croce, the two take a wrong turn and get lost. After drifting for hours through various streets and piazzas, they eventually make it to the square in front of the church, only for Lavish to abandon Lucy (who still has her Baedeker) to pursue an old acquaintance.
Inside the church, Lucy runs into the Emersons. Although the other visitors find Mr. Emerson's behavior somewhat unrefined, Lucy discovers she likes them both; she repeatedly encounters them in Florence. While touring Piazza della Signoria, Lucy and George Emerson separately witness a murder. Lucy, overcome by its gruesomeness, is aided by George as she faints. Recovered, she asks him to retrieve the photographs she dropped near the murder scene. George finds them, but as they are covered in blood, he throws them into the river before telling Lucy; Lucy observes how boyish George is. As they stop by the River Arno before returning to the pensione, they engage in a personal conversation.
Lucy decides to avoid George, partly because she is confused by her feelings, and also to placate Charlotte who grows wary of the eccentric Emersons. She overheard Mr Eager, a clergyman, saying that Mr Emerson, "murdered his wife in the sight of God".
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